Marumo Gallants interim head coach Raymond Mdaka says all the challenges they are facing on and off the field are galvanising the squad in their unbelievable run of form.
When Gallants put head coach Dan Malesela on special leave, who initially replaced Romain Folz as head coach, many predicted it would end in disaster for the club.
Dylan Kerr was confirmed as a ‘technical advisor’ while Mdaka was promoted to caretaker coach while Sly Mosala was roped in as assistant coach.
Since then they have been unbeaten in the league with two wins and three draws while advancing to the quarter-final of the CAF Confederation Cup.
But this has created a scenario where they, at times, play three games in one week in order to fulfill their schedule.
“I normally say and I believe the situation where we are, it’s a situation of mental strength, sometimes to body can get tired but if the mind is mine, then you can keep going,” he said when asked about the grueling schedule by iDiski Times.
“We understand, we travel, we come back to back-to-back games but we still maintain [our performances] through our character and mentality to say we can do it. But I accept it’s a bit of a challenge.”
And on top of the six games in the past six days, they had the mental drama of two of their members of staff being detained in Libya for over two weeks since their clash against Al Akdhar.
“Much as I can not dwell on the other members that were left outside, I think once you build unity within the family, sometimes we would say, let’s fight for our own people, the fact that we have challenges does not mean we have to drop our heads,” Mdaka said.
“I think the character the players are showing is an element of understanding the situation where we are and I feel it’s helping the team.”
